Topping Mondial: Personal Favourites from Mondial de la Biere 2015

Though family, work, and life commitments mean I couldn't have spent as much time at Mondial de la Bière 2015 as I would have liked, it is a testament to its delights that I dream of having spent all five days reveling in its delights.

This festival is equal parts party, revelry in fine food, and stamina-fest where us beer geeks attempt to try as many of its tasty treats as we can without succumbing to (excessive) inebriation or hangover - or worse, palate exhaustion.  I believe this is the first year I managed to avoid both palate exhaustion and hangovers (by ending early and sobering up before bed), but my notes faded (as they tend to do) as the tastes go on, and having sampled around 50 beers over two different visits means that some of this was inevitable.

Before getting to the brews, on the festival in general, I would like to add that the press event prior to the opening at Station Ho.St was delightful in a great beer location, while the festival this year also brought a fantastic new cask event (run by Benelux) and seemed to more adequately space the outdoor and indoor vendors, while seeming to have more seating and a wonderful vibe.  Too bad I couldn't make it to any Off-Mondial events this time around.  Regardless, and as always, this is a Montreal can't miss event - for all and not simply for the biggest brew-guzzlers amongst us.

Though I enjoyed the sausages, kangaroo steaks, and other ingested treats, I have to pay a special homage to this year's top (nutritional) treat...

Top Treat:

Annual food-service provider, Globe Trotter, brought their usual fares of kangaroo steaks, crocodile sausages, and more, but I was particularly thrilled (after a "few" samples) to purchase a "Bug-shot."  Politically, I am persuaded that insects can provide a nutritious and readily available food source such that I have made a commitment to trying more of these pests!  I've really only tried a few before so this was an opportunity not to pass up.  I mean, who wouldn't rather eat them than swat them?  They should at least die for a cause; better they are martyrs than genocidal victims of our hate-fueled wrath!  For a measly $2 (or was it $3?) Globe Trotter provided a small shooter with around 10-20 roasted grasshopper/cricket like creatures for human consumption.  Though I cannot say I loved them, I loved the experience, and I certainly didn't dislike them (perhaps beyond the heeby-jeeby thoughts of insect consumption).  They were well roasted with lightly smoky notes and a moderate saltiness (though could have perhaps used a touch more salt, or maybe some Sriracha?).  The crunchiness of legs and limbs in the mouth is a bit of an odd experience, but not at all unpleasant.  That is, I'd rate the flavour higher than the mouthfeel.  Were this BugAdvocate I'd give it:

• Appearance: lightly browned, crispy looking small hoppers.  Looks appetizing.  4.5/5
• Aroma: The mildest component, but lightly burnt smelling with some ashy components 3.25/5
• Taste: As noted above, more smoky or lightly burnt (as if barbecued - though I forgot to ask about preparation) and can you imagine how easy it would be to get a lightly burnt taste in a crispy barbecued bug? 3.75/5
• Mouthfeel: Oddly crispy, which could be fine but when it's crispy legs tingling your mouth and getting stuck in your teeth, it detracts a bit. 2.75/5
• Overall: The price was certainly right to complement the experience!  A treat not to be missed! 5/5

Now, to the beer!  This year, rather than picking the best in styles or attempting to get through everything, I thought I'd categorize a little differently and pick the best(s) of the following: Top Surprises, Top Revisitations, Top Hops, Top Tarts, and Personal Best of Fest.

Top Surprises:

3) Le Saint Bock is a Montreal marvel with what is probably Canada's largest beer selection, though I am rarely delighted by their own brews.  Don't get me wrong... they're rarely (if ever) bad, but they're likewise rarely more than decent.  However, their Arcadia single-hopped Citra American Pale Ale (5% ABV) stands out to me as possibly the best beer I have had from them!  I have called Mikkeller's k:rlek a poor-man's Zombie Dust (and 'poor' not referring to cost, but wider distro), and this could be called a poor man's k:rlek.  Again, however, the statement of poor is relative to accessibility and this is a very solid APA.  This was so good, I even went to the brewpub for a pint afterwards, such that I have more extensive notes here and can say the following:  It pours a light amber with a magnificent, creamy white one-finger head that lasts through an entire pint.  The lacing is likewise thick and curtain-like.  The nose wafts mainly citrus with a hint of peach and mango.  The taste likewise presents citrusy, but is a touch less hop-forward, presenting a hint of cereal grains before a lemon rind dry finish.  There is moderate carbonation, and it is a touch thin.  My only real knock on this beer is that it is a touch watery in flavour and feel, but stands up strongly all-around.  Grade: B+

2) La Fabrique - a brewpub in Matane, Quebec - was new for me, and though Quebec has SO MANY great breweries, it also has so many terrible ones that I avoid the new without news leading me to risk my taste buds for the unknown.  However, such a recommendation led me to try La Simonne (5% ABV Wit with Camerises aged in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels) which was remarkable!  In fact, it was so good it led me to try two more of their beers (Gros Chars American IPA which was very solid and Kaliningrad Russian Imperial Stout which was a bit too ashy and thin for my tastes).  La Simonne was pinkish-red (with that minimal head of most sample pours, for poor assessment).  Vinous musty qualities were foremost to both nose and palate, while traces of fruit and oak were likewise discernible, though in no ways was this reminiscent of any witbier I have ever otherwise tasted.  Perhaps I liked it precisely for its vinous, red-wine qualities.  Good carbonation with a medium-light body made for super drinkability, coupled with a moderately dry finish.  Grade: A-

 1) Speaking of places I rarely try, Brasseurs du Monde is very close to the top.  They really aren't a bad brewery, per se, but they just have so many mediocre (or slightly worse) beers without having ever impressed me.  Thus, my friend bugged me all day to trust him on this one, and I finally (and thankfully) relented, to my great surprise: Blanche du Mur (4% ABV Berliner Weisse) is a remarkable product, and would be even more praised had it been brewed by a usual suspect.  The nose wafts lactic funk, with a fair semblance of berries, lemons, tartness, and yogurt, while tastewise it is less fruity, and more funky and tart (if not excessively so) and a slight lemony finish, coupled with a feel dominated by ample (if not excessive carbonation) and a fairly light-medium body.  This is wonderful and one of my favourites of the fest.  I am now ISO a bottle!  Grade: A

Top Revisitations:

With many faded hops beers (due to the SAQ import system predominantly), the local breweries best provide that crucial freshness which brought me to Les Trois Mousquetaires.  Their casked Camerises (Berliner Weisse with Camerises), casked Brett Double IPA, and casked blend of Porter Baltique and Double IPA were all also very solid and worthy of high praise, but in particular, it is that which I'd imbibed before which they brought most strongly.  Clearly, they dominated the revisitation category for me personally.

2) Les Trois Mousquetaires' Porter Baltique Fut de Bourbon et Brandy 2014 is a delight in bottles, and the draught version here was even better, complementing the chocolate and barrel notes with a delightfully creamy mouthfeel.  If you ever have the chance to drink this on draught... do so.  Grade: A

1) It's a tough call for 1st or 2nd place here and, really, my winner isn't a revisitation, but rather my first take at the newest iteration.  Though I may have preferred the 2013 DIPA, Les Trois Mousquetaires' Double IPA 2015 easily tops 2014 for me, wafting a fruitier nose with some of the grassy earthiness of increased Simcoe hops (as mentioned to me by their brewmaster, Alex).  Tastewise, it is more bitter than sweet and yet, the balance is ideal, while this keg was also at optimal freshness.  Another hit - I only wish I could get these bottles more than once a year.  A few days later, Beerism's Noah and I side by sided this with Lawson's phenomenal Sip of Sunshine and this 2015 version stood up, even after SOS.  Wow!  Grade: A

Top Hops:

I have to caveat this category and critique the ridiculous import system here (much like Ontario's) where SAQ testing holds back products for months before their appearance.  Thus, I avoided several American IPAs I wished to try due to 2014... yes 2014... bottling dates.  I also avoided those with no date. I believe this system needs serious correction, and that fault lies with government.  However, within such constraints I hope that Mondial will perhaps try to ensure these (IPAs, DIPAs) are the very last beers tested and brought in or else the category could almost be left to lo
cal brewers as hops fades and tastes moldy so quickly.

That said, I was stoked about the highly-rated hop-forward beers from Wormtown in Massachusetts and, fortunately, they were all canned or bottled two months back.  This still isn't optimally fresh, but neither was it a disaster.  And, I am pleased to say that Hopulence (DIPA), Buddha's Juice (DIPA), and Be Hoppy (IPA) all stood up!  I am not sure they tasted as great as their ratings, but that could be due to age, so it feels disingenuous to fully rate on that presentation.  However, my intrigue remains and I will seek out fresher versions to report back in greater detail.

And on the local front, check out Benelux Verdun's Short-shorts for a lightly sour, well-hopped session IPA!  (Grade: A-)

Top Tarts:

Yes, again, not a true beer style category, and in many ways I could include La Simonne and Blanche du Mur here - and with these others they belong - but I chose the above category to present their wonders and here we move to more usual suspects!

3) Limes from Italian brewer Birrificio Bruton is a super drinkable fruit beer (6.5% ABV), so categorized for the addition of vermentino grape must.  It pours yellow and lightly hazy with a decent white head.  The bouquet presents traditional sweaty and fruity saison yeast, coupled with some rind and a hint of the grape must to come.  Flavourwise, it has a nice mild lime character which seems to present as a fairly complex interplay between the yeast and the must, with just a mild sourness.  Very well carbonated and light bodied, the feel strongly spreads the flavours, while never becoming heavy on the palate,with well hidden warmth, making this a wonderful hot summer day delight.  Grade: B+/A-

2) Brasserie Dunham tops out the best two in the category (not counting the surprises above!), but begins with a collaboration brewed in conjunction with Rigaud's Le Castor.  Chevalier du Funk (a 6.5% wild ale or sour saison, in this case) brings hints of barnyard and moderate tartness to the nose, while the taste is mildly yeasty, with some leather, dust, and moderate sourness.  It is light-bodied and, personally, a touch undercarbonated - though live Brett may increase that some with a bit of bottle age.  Another hit from both of these masterful breweries!  Grade: B+/A-

1) Dunham once again hits a homerun, this time with Assemblage Numero 4 (6.3% ABV wild ale blend of barrel-aged Brett beers).  I have to note, however, that this brew has divided the Quebec beer community - some feeling the quality was lacking and others loving it.  Yet, I have now spoken with two different people who each opened two bottles and found one to be delightful and one to be off.  I am never one to speak ill of Dunham, but I hope this inconsistency is hearsay and that my bottle is as good as this one I tasted (and that such problems are addressed if there is any accuracy to these reports); for this offered a masterfully complex nose of dust, must, funk, cobwebs, and light tartness with just a trace of fruit.  Taste-wise, the complexity continued with a gueuze-resembling presentation of musty, vinous notes spread across the palate by high carbonation and a fairly light body.  I found this to be a touch under the stronger examples of traditional gueuze and some high-end American (and Quebec) sours, but it belongs in the conversation.  I cannot stress enough that dislike of this bottle either portends a dislike of the style or of bottle variance, for this is a wonderfully complex animal (complete with inherent critters).  Grade: A

Personal Best(s) of Fest:

This may not have been the top beer I tasted, though it was assuredly amongst them, but it was the genuine and solid token that stood outside of my intentionally odd categorizations.

Double Black IPA (8% ABV), from Providence, Rhode Island's Revival Brewing captures much of what I love in a Black IPA (or Cascadian Dark Ale).  That is, if there is no trace of the roast, make an IPA, and if the hops is secondary, brew a stout, but when done well, these flavours complement, rather than compete with each other.  That is what this offered, presenting an equal parts pine and roast nose, with a coffee forward quality.  The taste likewise began with espresso up front, but completed with a resinous, hop forward earthiness that went hand-in-hand with the roast.  For an imbalanced beer style, the balance between the notes was remarkable, and I could have consumed this all day long - except I had it towards the end (perhaps skewing my notes - though I had two) and limiting the remaining consumption capacity (not to mention breadth of choice!)  Grade: A

Well folks... until next year, that ends the Mondial coverage, but keep seeking these promising local delights, brewers keep stepping up the game, and stay tuned for a review of a pending Imperial Chili Stout tasting complete with Hunahpu, Double Barrel Hunahpu, Mexican Cake, BA Cake Tequila barrel, Double Barrel Cake, and more!

Santé!

Mondial Review 3: Pure Laine Quebecois Beers Stand Up to the Best

As I typically prioritize trying new beers, one would think I'd spend little time at Mondial de la biére trying local Quebec offerings.  However, many of these delights are either seasonals/one-offs/trials and/or they come from small, excellent breweries who are struggling to meet demand making their products scarce even here.

Shawinigan's Le Trou du Diable is beginning an expansion that is making their highly respected offerings more widely available, as it seems is Hopfenstark from l'Assomption.  Though I have personally experienced and heard great things about each of these breweries, I had been restricted to sporadic (if increasing) bottles and periodic tap offerings at Vices et Versa and Le Saint Bock.  However, a wide selection at the festival, increasing production capacities, and Hopfenstark's pending new Station Ho.St bar at 1494 Ontario in Montreal mean increased recent and future enjoyment of these Quebec marvels.

As great as Le Trou du Diable is, I wish to note the following: the hype around Hopfenstark is legitimate.  I am a huge fan of Dieu du Ciel! and have, on many occasions, called it Canada's best brewery (in both my opinion and the crowd-sourcing of ratebeer).  However, Hopfenstark is challenging that for me and I don't say this lightly.  The more I drink their beer, the more I want to drink their beer, and brewmaster Fred and his friendly crew assured me many tastes of some gems throughout my time at the festival.  So did many other breweries and, for that, they will all get their due, but Hopfenstark gets the extra shout-out not simply for chatting and imbibing, but for the stellar product they are producing.  I, for one, cannot wait for the new establishment to open!

After 15 months living in Quebec, I now feel sufficiently able to say, however, that there is a stellar high end of breweries here, but that the low end is not good at all (with some in the mid range).  Dieu du Ciel!, Hopfenstark, Charlevoix, Les Trois Mousquetaires, and Dunham really are the cream of Quebec's crop, with Le Trou du Diable, Benelux, McAuslan, Unibroue, and Le Cheval Blanc just behind for me, while there are a few other decent ones but also several I have consistently drain-poured and would be loathe to ever buy again... but man, is the high end solid!  Thus, there are many gems to recommend here and this post, hence, promises to be lengthy!

The very broad categories containing Quebec's Personal Best of Fest are: 1) Sours, Saisons, and Such; 2) IPAs, DIPAs, Etc; 3) Belgian Strongs; and 4) Stouts - literally, two Export Stouts and nothing else of extreme noteworthiness.

Again, there are many solid beers that didn't make the best-of-the-best cut, but without further ado...

1) Sours, Saisons, and Such

The personal winner for me here comes from Hopfenstark (let the deserved praises continue!) with their super-sour Berliner Weisse called Berlin Alexanderplatz Epilogue (3.5% ABV) which was actually my 1000th rated beer!  Not only do I love the sessionable nature of this 3.5%er, but its sour lactic notes and drying tart acidity are excellent for a sour-lover like myself.  I understand this to be an amped (soured?) up version of the original Berlin Alexanderplatz with added raspberries, and deliver that punch it does indeed with a cloudy white body and some slight head sending forth just a lightly tart nose with very mild fruity hints, alongside a mouth-puckeringly sour, acidic raspberry-lemonade flavour without any residual sweetness.  Lightly tingly with a light-to-medium body, the feel perfectly complements the intensity in my mouth.  I would easily call this may favourite Berliner Weisse I have as yet had, while acknowledging that it is a style variant that fits my personal tastes, though a few Gueuzes and American Wild Ales have still topped it on the more general 'sour' front for me.  That said, I am, of course, talking about different animals here (literally, if considering the bacteria) and, moreover, I am thinking of beers brewed by Cantillon and beers like Russian River's Supplication, so it remains pretty fucking good, sir!  Grade: A/A+

Insofar as they specialize in Saisons and such, one shouldn't be too surprised that Hopfenstark's rare and unique Saison du Rèpos (7% ABV) comes in just behind their super-sour winner in the category.  Though some lament the differentiation from the style norms here, they aren't so far off as to make this a different beast; that is, this is a saison through and through and a damn good one, if slightly untraditional.  It is in variation that Dieu du Ciel! stands out and so too this is how Hopfenstark makes their mark if you ask me.  Anyway, this beer pours a clear yellow with an excellent funky-sour barnyard nose of the best sort saisons offer.  The taste is unique and complex offering a clear evolution from citrusy sweetness to Bretty funk to a pleasant, delectable dry finish that cleanses the palate in anticipation of more.  Dry-hopped with citra, the linger is pleasant while the strong carbonation balances finely with the balanced complexity of flavours.  My only complaint?  That this is such a rarely available product!  Perhaps my favourite saison I have ever tasted!  Grade: A/A+

Equally impressive was Le Trou du Diable's Dulcis Succubus (7% ABV) which is sometimes called a Wild Ale and sometimes a Saison, as it has characteristics of each such that the brewers call it a "Wild Saison."  Aged in white wine barrels and fermented with wild yeast, as well as the standard Brettanomyces, this clear, lightly reddish brew wafts notes of honey, apricot, and tart cherries while the taste offers hints of vanilla wood up front with a drinkable, yet delectably soured (if not fully sour) finish.  Enjoyably complex with a fair body and prickly carbonation, I could drink this all day.  Sour but not puckering and multi-dimensional as it is, this beer is a gem!  Grade: A/A+

Falling only ever-so-slightly behind those gems comes Boquebière's Hildegard Saison Brux (7.5% ABV) another Wild Saison hybrid, which pours a cloudy amber with some lingering heady lace.  The nose is a decent mix of barnyard funk and acidic tartness, while the taste is Bretty and funky without much in the way of acidity.  In other words, it smells a bit more wild and tastes a bit more Brett-y (like a standard Saison).  A nice full body and strong carbonation complement it well.  Another successful marvel of Quebec's recreation of the French-Belgian styles!  Grade: A 

In order to keep this post manageable, I will simply send my praise to the following runner-ups without adding notes (let me know if you wish a full review and I shall in the comments perhaps).  These are all excellent as well and only fall short of review herein due to the strength of the competition:
Le Cheval Blanc's Ponette Cerise (8% ABV sour mash blend of Brett with wild yeast and cherries);
Benelux's Grisette (a 4.5% ABV Sour Saison);
and Hopfenstark's original Berlin Alexanderplatz (the less sour version of the praised epilogue which clocks in at 3.2% ABV). 

2) IPAs, DIPAs, Etc

Dieu du Ciel! tops the list here with their phenomenal IPA called Moralité (6.9% ABV) brewed in collaboration with The Alchemist (brewers of the famed Heady Topper).  It pours a fairly clear body that is light amber in colour with a creamy white head.  The aroma is of fruity, delightful, and powerful citrus with some malty hints detectable rounding out this inviting aggression of hops.  A complex finish of pine alongside some citrus, grapefruit, and mango fruity flavours dries out the fairly malted base.  Medium-bodied and very tingly with a sharp, prickly carbonation.  This beer is a marvellous delight, if not for the faint of hops!  Grade: A/A+

Hopfenstark again makes my list, coming in second here with a hybrid beer that seems a better fit here: 7 Sisters/La Pléiade Alcyone (8% ABV) is a black IPA fermented with saison yeast.  It pours a deep, dark brown while expressing a toasty-roasty coffee nose nearly reminiscent of an imperial stout, while the flavour offers an earthy/piney drying finish that is mild, but pleasant, tempered no doubt by the malt but its sweetness is likewise mild and checked.  A nice full body and an easier drinker than I imagined.  Not so much the typical extreme beer despite blending these diverse styles, but a pleasant one to drink without question.  Grade: A

A three-way tie just below these brings forth the following brief tasting notes:

Le Trou du Diable's Le Smash IPA (a 5.5% single-hopped Citra IPA) which has a solid citrus nose and a similar dry taste with some lingering resin notes.  Grade: A

Benelux's Anniversaire 2013 (a 9.3% Imperial IPA) has nose and flavour dominated by typical citrus and pine, with a decent backbone.  I often find I (slightly) prefer the nose to the taste on a DIPA and this was the converse (though maybe it just seemed so after smelling Moralité), but this one tasted like gold and could simply use a bit more dry-hop but was another I could drink all day - though at 9.3%, the day would be brief indeed!  Grade: A

Benelux again makes the tie-list here with the Sabotage IPA (7% ABV) which I had had once before I  had fully learned my love of hops!  Now, the excellent citrusy notes of grapefruit and rind are marvels I'd seek again and again!  Grade: A

I'd like to give a special shout-out to the top-runner up just below the review cut to La Succursale's Angus IP "AAA" (7% IPA), which again would make the cut were the competition not so fierce!  ANother solid beer amongst many in this style new to my discovery (and a nod as well to Hopfenstark's Postcolonial IPA for the taste, nose, and name!).

3) Belgian Strong Ales

Tops here for me was Benelux's Heksen (8.8% ABV) which pours a hazy amber appearing somewhere in between a strong pale and strong dark - seeming more like a well-malted pale in aroma and flavour.  Notes of fermenting pear greet the nose, while the taste begins with a fruity sweetness that dries out nicely in that combo mild hops/earthy yeast way one would expect of a Belgian strong pale.  The linger is nice and lightly funky.  A quite enjoyable beer.  Grade: A-/A

Next came La Succursale's Abt (10% Quad) which pours a nice reddish-brown and offers notes of sweet plums and a hint of licorice.  Taste-wise it is fruity and sweet up front with a fair drying finish.  Quite good at first, but the sweetness seems to grow as it gets consumed and begins better than each subsequent sip.  Still, quite good if room to grow.  Grade: A-

The honourary mention here goes to Hopfenstark's 7 Sisters/La Pléiade Maia.

4) Export Stouts

Ironically, both of the standout, new (to me) Quebec stouts and porters at this event were of the Export variety.

Tops was Dieu du Ciel!'s Libre Échange (6.9% ABV) which pours black as midnight with a fine mocha head of solid retention and clingy/sticky lace.  The nose is of enticing chocolate predominantly, while the flavour is roasty and of lightly burnt toast with a full, nearly oat-like mouth.  Just another masterpiece from this wonderful brewery!  Grade: A+

Coming in second behind this marvel is no insult to Hopfenstark's Greg (8% ABV) which offers sweet lace itself and a roasty biscuity nose alongside flavour notes of biscuits with a very dry lingering roasty finish.  Some may not appreciate how dry this finishes, though it was so good this was fine for me, while my token criticism is that the body is a touch lighter than it should be.  Grade: A-

That's all for now, folks!  The Brazilian's and the Mondial wrap-up?  Soon come!

May Means One Main Thing: Mondial de la Biere!

It may be somewhat new for me, but May is an exciting time since my semester draws to a close allowing for some necessary family time, Steelhead fishing allows for my annual up-the-creek reprieve weekend, and Mondial de la Biere offers the best of the beer festivals!

This Montreal celebration of a worldwide selection of brews runs from Wednesday May 29 to Sunday June 2 this year, and promises a likely selection of 550 or so beers and special one-offs popping up at after-party events around the city's finer beer establishments.

Just what is so special about Mondial, itself?

Well, it truly offers a global selection of beers complete with excellent and unique oddities from around the planet - including Italian and Brazilian gems alongside the big-guns from the good'ol US of A.

Sure, the atmosphere gets partisome on Friday and Saturday, while the best brews are often gone by Sunday, but the diversity of excellent offerings, the early appeal, the rarity of the selection (often otherwise unavailable in Canada), and more make this an event not to be missed.

There are judged competitions here as well, judged by the qualified, not the drunk and most beers cost from $1-6 for a supposedly 4oz (but often 8+ oz) sample.

Yes, that can be cheap or pricey depending on the beer but with the possibility to taste excellent products one may never otherwise find here (or for a much cheaper price than they would cost with bar markup) make this a worthwhile endeavour indeed!

This year, I hope to make it to Benelux for the Vermont Brewers Association event multi-brewer cask event and hopefully also to Dieu du Ciel when they crack that Cantillon keg!

I should also cross my 1000th rated beer mark this year.

However, with such a selection, I highly recommend a plan!  Shortly, the exhibitor and beer list will be available.  One could quickly devolve into the drunken lout behaviour of the masses without getting to the prized gems if not for following a plan.  Going in blind is a sure path to becoming overwhelmed.

It is, perhaps, Mondial's best kept secret that Wednesday and Thursday at open are the best times to visit, with a nice sobering dinner before after-partys to avoid the rowdy insanity.  Unless that's what you're there for!

Sante!

Visiting Benelux Brasserie Artisinale et Cafe

Having finally attended the Sherbrooke location of Benelux, I remain anxious for their (apparently delayed) opening of a second location near my home in Verdun.

Though not unquestionably fantastic, there are enough good things about this craft brewpub to keep me intrigued and returning for more, even if there is some room for improvement.


Benelux offers an excellent evening atmosphere with a fine trendy/art deco/loft-like interior, nice furniture, very clean bathrooms, and sells flights to a decent-sized crowd (even on a weekday evening).  The service was good and, though the flights may be a bit pricey (at $10 for 5 four-ounce samples), you do get 20 ounces for your money and two flights lets you taste ten of their rotating twelve beer selection.

This diversity and quantity are assuredly pluses, though for a craft beer bar, perhaps a cask would be a nice addition.  Nonetheless, I tried the following and offer my brief thoughts on each and then collectively afterwards in the most important part of the review:

Eponyme (a saison at 6.5% ABV) which was very pleasant and a bit peaty alongside its yeasty breadiness.  I would gladly drink this again and (if consuming less without company) will offer more detailed notes then!

Armada (American Brown Ale at 6% ABV) is also quite nice, though a touch experimental insofar as it brings a substantial pine-like hoppiness to the style that is bolder than most (even American) browns.  Still, quite enjoyable and a successful experiment/intensification of the style descriptors and this could almost be called a dark IPA (though without the prevalent cascade signature of most such ales, even if piney on its own terms).

Yakima (American Pale Ale at 5.5% ABV) was quite pleasingly citrusy and crisp to the tongue.  A very fine pale ale and probably my favourite of the three listed so far!

Anniversaire 2012 (double IPA at 8% ABV) was nice, if paler than expected, though cascade hops to a fair degree met with style expectations.  Good and as expected, if not exceptional.

Cigogne (Pilsner at 5.2% ABV) was quite nice with just enough bitterness to nuance the style.  Best pale lager I have had in a while - though I don't have many.  Easy drinking and will probably do well on a hot summer day!

Croc-en-Jambe (American IPA at 6.3%) walked a fine line between drying to a nice extreme and astringency.  I quite enjoyed it, but found it to be longer lasting in its citrusy dryness than even the double IPA which is not bad per se, but perhaps odd and noteworthy.  That said, I enjoyed it, though I was neck-deep in hops at this point and wouldn't recommend it for the faint of hops heart.

Cuda (IPA at 6.5%) was quite nice and offered a late forming dryness and aftertaste.  Not as bitter as some of those above, but more like a cross between a good English IPA and a decent US pale.  Though after the quantity I had consumed, I should try this again!

Finally, we come to Lux Rousse, the sole, but substantial disappointment of the night.  I'd presume it was personal or simply quantity consumed, but as this was my first of the night and as my fellow beer geek attendee felt the same, it seems fair to say that this is a drastic failure.  It is sweet, but not in any discernible malty fashion - more like an artificial sweetener like aspartame - while offering a skunky aftertaste without redemption.  Since I have never really tasted these characteristics, it made me wonder if it was off, but if it were draft lines there should be acetyl (which was absent) and for a brew pub with rotating kegs, it should be fresh, so I am left with my initial impression, that this was just dreadful on its own terms.

It is a good thing my experiences of the other beers were favourable since the Rousse was the token regret of the evening!  That said, I would give at least a grade of B to all of the others, though I don't think any hit the A range for me.  Admittedly, other than the saison, I never tried their Belgian styles and I did enjoy their seasonal Maple Smoked Porter at another event much more, but this is tempered praise (though praise nonetheless).  By this I mean that Benelux seems consistently good - and that assures my continued patronage - but it won't top my list for those 'must-taste-and-attend' places barring a pleasant surprise in the near future.

I have to add that for a brewpub with rotating taps, it seems odd that the rotation included four (or arguably, with the brown, 5) pale ales and 4 untasted Tripels and/or Belgian blondes (which I wasn't in the mood to try) and yet had not a single porter or stout, nor any other lager styles beyond the pilsner on the eve of my visit.  I did enjoy the pales, I understand that this changes often, and I look forward to the rotations (which are, to me, a big selling feature), but perhaps this diversity could be planned a bit better.

That all said, the service and atmosphere FAR top some other establishments that, despite also having the odd miss, have hit so hard on so many excellent beers.  I'd average the beer grade as a B to B+, but the establishment gets an A, so though I'd call some other places greater 'musts' for the beer geek, I'd much rather go here with the average friend over not only other craft bars, but over basically all bars!